I have a friend who is a full time travelling/camping musician, with a focus on Ren Faires. Half his social media is 'Love travel and music with my friends, Faire Life Forever :)' and half is 'Another problem with the FUCKIGN vehicle.' I think of Rafael often, seeing this. I wonder if he has any practical camping skills that haven't come up in his years of captivity, and I think how useful it would be for a travelling crew on bad roads to have a buff Tech, should Rich be road inclined (he isn't)
Rafael's car-repair experience is mostly through his utility as a dexterous and willowy guy who gets summoned to stick his arm into engine blocks and shimmy under trailers and trucks. He was quite a young man when his life went off the rails, so he wasn't usually making decisions or taking on big important tasks around the camp--more running chores and running lines and going out to try to bring in interest and extra cash whenever there was a town nearby. But he can use a compass, read a map, check the troupe's clunky old Geiger counter, set up the water filtration system at a nearby stream, build a fire, and pick from one or two ways to cook commonly-available game animals over it, even if it's not going to be Fine Cuisine.
RE: buff techs, there is a quite tangential AU in our documents where traveling player Rafael meets Hastings backliner/medic apprentice/logistics guy Rich Bane and Rich pretty happily jumps ship to playing mechanic and strong man instead of trying to be a soldier. If he already has the Fleet he's not going to be tempted, but compared to other lives he could make for himself landside, it would be a promising offer!
